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The Great Winnipeg Tornado
The Great Winnipeg Tornado was a large, violent, and deadly F5 tornado that struck Winnipeg, Manitoba and its suburbs on June 30th, 2005. The tornado claimed the lives of 54 people, blowing away the previous record set by the Regina Cyclone 93 years to the day before. Along with that, the tornado also became the costliest tornado is Canadian history, destroying any and all previous records. The tornado has also been classified as one of the strongest on record. Synopsis On June 30th, 2005, the Canadian Weather service issued a watch for portions of southern Manitoba, stating that the weather conditions in the region were favorable for tornadoes, as well as other kinds of severe weather. An unusual amount of gulf moisture was brought north from the Gulf of Mexico. Do to the recent hot temperature the region had been facing, that moisture eventually reached an area of high instabillity in southern Manitoba, where cold air from the rocky mountains also was present. On top of that, shear in the upper and lower levels of the atmosphere also rose the potential of rotating supercell thunderstorms to form later on in the day. A frontal system soon moved in, and the tables were set for a severe weather outbreak in the region. The equivalent to the US storm prediction centers high risk was soon issued for the region by the Canadian severe weather agency, and alerts were issued across the Winnipeg metro. By noon, storms began to be firing up, but many of them had not been producing tornadoes. However, on supercell soon formed to the southeast of Winnipeg, and quickly began to rotate. This eventually led to a tornado to touchdown, and do to the favorable weather conditions, it quickly got stronger. Sanford-Oak Bluff The tornado touched down around 3:25 PM CDT about half a mile north of the hamlet of Sanford. The tornado then quickly tracked northeast, heading in the general direction of the town of Oak Bluff, 8 miles away. Over those 8 miles, the tornado quickly became stronger, larger, and more intense. However, due to the lack of buildings in between the two communities, a majority of the damage during this time was limited to agricultural loss, but a few buildings were struck. By the time it was four miles away from Oak Bluff, the tornado had grown to over a quarter mile wide, and winds estimated at around high EF3 level. The twister continued to grow, growing to nearly a mile wide just before hitting Oak Bluff. The tornado crossed Provincial Highway 2 into the residential portion of the small village. The town was quickly engulfed, as the tronado carrying winds estimated to be around 270 MPH swept away building after building in the town. In the Oak Bluff recreation center, up to fourty people were sheltering in place as the tornado hit. A majority of them had been viewing a basketball game at the complex shrotly before the tornado hit. The complex was demolished, and 13 people died. Once the tornado left the town, every building had atleast been damaged. 19 people had died, and nearly 100 injured. The damage in Oak Bluff was later surveyed to be F5 damage. The village had little warning because of its lack of tornado sirens. Local government later said, that "if we had tornado sirens, the 19 people that died in Oak Bluff could still be here with us...The importance of early warning systems was ackowleded by the local government but we were denied grant money that would have enabled us to buy a tornado siren, and in turn save peoples lives." T he Provincial government of Manitoba would later say in a message, that they did indeed not approve a grant for a a tornado siren, but instead gave the money elsewhere. The Village of Oak Bluff would later get a grant for the tornado siren in 2006, and it would be installed later that year. The twister would continue northeast, destroying the Enn's Brothers store, before crossing the Trans Canada Highway, taking portions of the highway off due to the high winds. As the tornado barreld towards Winnipeg, it would hit a few houses and residential subdivisions as it would parralel McGillivray Blvd. Very soon, tornado sirens would sound throughout Winnipeg, as the threat of the situation was realized by local officials. Winnipeg The tornado would hit the southern half of the Loundon Road Subdivision west of the the Winnipeg city limits. The houses it would hit would suffer high end F4 damage, before the twister would continue it path towards the city. It would soon hit another residential subdivision before striking a group of commercial department stores, flattening the stores down to their foundations. The tornado then move into the highly populated River Heights neighborhoods, where several well built homes were destroyed, some wiped off their foundations. In one instance, several cracks in the foundation were identified, and determined to be caused by the tornado. The entirety of the damage in RIver Heights would be given an F5 rating. Out of the entire tornadoes path, the River Heights neighborhood would suffer the most deaths, as 26 people would die, and many more would be injured. The tornado was now over a mile wide, and less than two miles away from downtown Winnipeg. Around this time, the tornado became heavily rain wrapped as it barreld into the Crescentwood and Little Italy neighborhoods, dealing F4 damage to many of the buildings. The Armstrong point neigherbood would be next to be hit, where F5 damage would occur once again. Soon, Roslyn and Osborne Village- the two farthest south portions of downtown Winnipeg would be struck by the wrath of the tornado. Numerous bars, grills, and resturants would be obliterated on Osborne street, as nearby apartment buildings would see the same fate. One man who insisted on staying at his family grill, even as the news of the tornado coming straight at them came in, died in the twister. Misericordia Health Centre, one of the main hospitals in the Winnipeg metro was severely damaged bu the tornado as well. The top floor of the hospital was ripped to shreds, and the other floors suffered critical damage as well. One patient at the hospital in critical condition was killed by the tornado. Soon after, the Manitoba Capital building was hit. The historic structure, built in 1920 was completly ruined, as the historic cupola and the famous Golden Boy statue atop of it were both destroyed. The entire roof of the structure was torn off, and the entirety of the remainder of the building collapsed less then a day after the tornado hit, resulting in the structure turning into nothing but rubble. Soon, the many high rises, skyscrapers, and offices in downtown Winnipeg were severely damaged, with many having their highest floors destroyed. The RBC Convention Center Winnipeg was the next building to be flattend, as the twisters winds of over 200 MPH continued to desimate the downtown of the seventh most populated city in Canada. By the time the tornado left downtown, buildings and areas such as The Forks Historic Park, Bell MTS Place, Shaw Park, St. Mary's Cathedral, Winnipeg Square, The Winnipeg Public Library, the Winnipeg Childrens Museum, the two tallest buildings in Winnipeg, the Richardson Building and 201 Portage Ave., the Gran Exchange Building, and much of the Winnipeg Skyway system were either entirely destroyed or severely damaged. Four people in total would be killed in downtown Winnipeg. The damage documented in the downtown area has been said to be the worst damage ever seen in a downtown area. All damage in downtown Winnipeg would be rated as F5. The tornado would then cross the Red River, destroying several bridges connecting downtown Winnipeg to the eastern portions of the city. Several more commercial structure would be completly destroyed by the F5 winds of the tornado, before it would begin to recycle, where a section of F4 and F3 damage would be seen. After the tornado would recycle, it would rapidly grow in size as it once again hit residential neighborhoods in eastern Winnipeg. F5 damage would once again begin to take place, as very intense ground scurring would occur, and houses would be wiped off their foundations. A factory complex would be hit, where the remaining deaths of the tornado would take place. Surveyors would pinpoint this area of damage as being especially intense, as the tornado would entirely flatten the structure. It would soon continue moving northeast, continuing to destroy entire blocks of houses and stores, as well as the McLeod Industrial Complex. The tornado would then cross the Chief Peguis Trail Highway, doing severe damage to the structure of the highway. It would then hit the wealthy All Seasons Estates and Springfield North Neighborhoods, where entire well built homes would be destroyed and destroyed. Multiple homes would also be determined to be bolted down into their foundations. The tornado would then leave residential Winnipeg, and strike the largely traveled Provincial Truck Highway-Perimeter Highway Interchange. Their, several portions of the raised interchange was destroyed, and in some cases collapsed. Southern parts of the village of East Saint Paul would then be struck, as well as the Na-Sha-Ke-Penais subdivision. Here, the tornado would reach its peak width of 1.5 miles wide, however, it would then quickly dissipate, and shrink in size. Shortly before it would die however, it would cross and hit the Red River Floodway, severely a portion of it, leading to small amounts of flooding along the Provincial Trunk Highway. After this, it would quickly weaken, commiting F1 damage to the remaining structures, before lifting 0.7 miles southwest of the village of West Pine Ridge. Aftermath The tornado was on the ground for well over an hour, and for nearly 32 miles. The tornado resulted in well over 1 billion dollars of damage. Prime Minister Paul Martin would declare a state of Emergency for the entire Winnipeg metro area. Paul Martin would eventually visit the city, surveying damage with NWS surveyors. Aid from around the world arrived within hours of the tornado, as national guardsmen from throughout the United States, UK, Canada, and other countries arrived to help. In the days following the event, the tornado received vast International news coverage. Partially do to the International News coverage, donations from people across the globe skyrocketed, with nearly 1 billion dollars being donated to victims of the tornado. It would take several years for the village of Oak Bluff and the city of Winnipeg to recover, and dozens of homes have yet to be rebuilt, even a decade later. The Great Winnipeg Tornado of 2005 Memorial was built to honor the 54 people that died in the event in 2008. It stands on Kennedy Street, on the property of the new Manitoba Legislative Building. In 2012, the Canadian Parliament passed the "Winnipeg Tornado Act" Witch made it so all towns had to have some sort of Tornado warning system. This Article Was Written by NewSomberManCategory:Tornadoes Category:Deadly Tornadoes Category:Catastrophic Tornadoes Category:Costly Tornadoes Category:Violent Tornadoes Category:F5/EF5 Tornadoes Category:NewSomberMan Category:Canadian Tornadoes Category:Tornadoes of 2005